The conservative punditry has been going after Obama pretty hard lately for not visiting Iraq since the surge began. “How can he know what’s really happening?” they ask. McCain has been leading the chorus, as yet another way of implying that Obama is so young and inexperienced that he doesn’t know up from down. The assumption is that visiting a war zone gives you information and wisdom that staying at home does not. The problem is that this is an awful assumption.
Continue reading »
May 282008
The public doesn’t have a right to know anything about private citizens. Anyone who says differently is selling something (probably a newspaper).
Continue reading »
May 282008
Humility. Temperance. Stewardship. Modesty. These are all good Christian values. They are good conservative values as well. Jesus taught them (as have most of the world’s great religious leaders of all faiths). In most cases, our parents and grandparents taught them as well. Christians, and I think most others, recognize the opposites of these values (pride, extravagance, waste, boastfulness) as sins. When we apply these concepts to our daily lives, they all add up to a basic concept that I still can’t believe is controversial: conservation.
Continue reading »
May 272008
For the first time this weekend, I saw McCain criticize Obama for having never served in the military. It’s an old criticism of potential presidential candidates, and so that didn’t surprise me. But it got me thinking: Barack Obama is the first presidential candidate we’ve had who came of age post-Vietnam, which means he has never had to deal with the draft. Obama grew up in a much different world from previous presidents, something that McCain needs to figure out quickly.
Continue reading »
May 232008
I’ve been looking up some demographic data today, and ran across the Pew Forum survey. In particular, they have detailed information on the religious breakdown of the country, as a whole and broken down by states. I found some of this pretty surprising. For instance:
Continue reading »
Recent Comments